Victim Of Attack Honored For Help She Gives Others

May 11, 1985|By Michael Connelly, Staff Writer

Two weeks shy of five years since the night she was blinded in a brutal attack that began on a Broward County road, Sharon Komlos stood in front of a crowd of law enforcement officers she couldn`t see but certainly could hear. They were on their feet, loudly applauding her.

Komlos was honored Friday as co-recipient of the Broward Sheriff`s Office Citizen of the Year Award for 1984. Her efforts to help other crime victims and enlist more citizen involvement in crime prevention programs won her the award, officials said.

She was honored along with Joseph Damiano, a private citizen who went undercover to help deputies crack a loansharking and extortion ring. Sheriff Nick Navarro also announced that an aviation unit deputy, Robert Lester, was being honored as the 1984 Deputy of the Year.

Komlos was blinded by a bullet fired into her car on Sample Road, then abducted, raped, stabbed and left for dead in a Pompano Beach-area apartment on May 23, 1980.

The mother of three has since won nationwide recognition for turning her tragedy into a triumph. She has been honored by President Reagan. And last year she was awarded the W. Clement Stone Foundation`s ``Endow a Dream`` Award. She turned over the $75,000 grant to victims` rights groups and other charities.

But the local recognition that came Friday was just as special, she said.

``The national recognition is one thing, but to be recognized locally is fantastic,`` she said. ``This is part of the community we live in. It is where the crime occurred. It is really important to me to be recognized here.``

``I did what had to be done for the safety of the community,`` said Damiano, who operates Professional Funeral Services. ``I thought about the danger a few times, but I knew I was the one who could help out. I would do it again if I had to.``

Lester was named Deputy of the Year for heroics on the ground and in the air.

On Oct. 18, 1984, the night Deputy Tony Yaniello was mortally wounded by a gunman inside a house near Hollywood, where he had knocked on the door, Lester landed the sheriff`s helicopter in the line of fire and transported the dying deputy to a nearby hospital. He later returned to put the helicopter`s spotlight on the house where the gunman was holed up.

The next night Lester was off-duty and riding in a car, not a helicopter, when he saw a car crash into fuel pumps at a Fort Lauderdale service station and burst into flames. Lester pulled three people from the burning wreckage. Two of them survived, and officials credited Lester`s fast action for their lives.